Derbex

It's very interesting for me to see your points of view. Thanks!
I am kind of surprised to see that some of you tend to blame me "the customer" and I am really trying to see your reasons for that, forcing me to see me from another perspective.
I do think that clients sometimes can be a pain, however I believe that the supplier can't afford to have a bad day, they should ALWASY smile and be nice (from their heart otherwise of course everybody would see it's fake right?).
We can all change somebody else's day with a true smile, with a nice word or with a box of chocolate but I believe within a business relation this is even more critical and I would say ESSENTIAL for the supplier, especially in a world full of competitors and where the relations with people are probably the strongest ways to make money.

Regarding this specific case and me "not knowing the rules of the game" please tell me how I could have known the following:
I often buy cheap Alitalia return flights LIN-AMS. The price is always the same 118€. The fare is "O" and I get 50% of the miles which is a good deal.
All of a sudden, the fare became "R" or "F" even if the price is always the same at 118€.
The fare "R" does not earn miles and the fare "F" is not even mentioned in the program.

When I buy the flight with Alitalia I have no possibility to know which fare I am buying. I do not see this information during the booking process, I do not receive this information with my booking and I cannot access this information retrieving the booking details online on Alitalia website. The only way to know the fare is to call Alitalia and ask them "which fare did I buy?".
I did not call Alitalia because I was under the impression that the fare was the same as other previous flights that I purchased at the same price (or even lower sometimes!). I just noticed that those flights were not credited to my account. This is how the whole research started.
Since it already happened that AZ flights were not credited and I got them credited at the crown lounge in AMS, I did that again as I already did in the past.
Nobody helped me to understand the whole story, I learned it by myself by arguing with this agent and then calling Alitalia and asking them about this fare.
From a "consumer" point of view, do you think this is right? Rules have changed, no miles anymore for me and I have to swallow this AFTER I have purchased and flown flights and nobody is able to explain me what happened.
For example Alitalia fare "F" is not mentioned anywhere. Why is FB taking the assumption that no miles are credited with this fare?
I am learning "how to play the game" at my own expenses and to be honest I not only have felt treated unfairly by the agent, I also feel CHEATED by FB.

I also agree that other programs might be the same and you know what I am thinking? I am thinking about Easy jet. I am starting to realize that the higher price paid with KLM, Airfrance or Alitalia is not worth the benefits that I get (apart from the rudeness which I get for free).
With the savings I would make flying low cost I could afford a restaurant at Schiphol instead of going to the busy lounge where sometimes you even have to stand (and do we want to talk about the food in the lounge?).
What are the other benefits? Miles? Come on, if you try to fly cheap miles are just a joke so let's not talk about miles (I am PLAT just because of segments flown). What more? 2 luggage? Business travelers do not need luggage, you know that. What's left? Priority boarding? Easy jet offers "Easy plus card" at €199 per year and you can select your seat (even first row), you can board first, you can take an extra carry on bag... so what is the difference? It's all in our mind, and they call it "platinum" but it means NOTHING.

Easy jet recently put a new flight LIN-AMS and the time is just PERFECT for me. Often on Fridays I want to take the 5pm flight with KLM but I seldom buy it because the price is 3 times what I normally pay. Easy jet put a flight at 16.45 at 35€.

And don't take me wrong.... I know that flying low cost is not always very nice but I do not feel "special" being PLAT in FB, I actually feel NOONE or I even feel like they do not like customers like me. They probably like wealthy people who fly business or first. All the rest is just Riffraff which they do not really need.....

I believe I already made up my mind 80% that I will soon switch to Easy jet and goodbye PLAT, all these fake benefits and especially those RUDE people!